Meet the Team That Keeps MSK Clean, Safe, and Ready to Heal

MSK's Environmental Services (EVS) team is more than 600 people strong. They work across MSK's main campus and regional facilities, covering over 3 million square feet of space. Their responsibilities include cleaning and disinfection, waste management, grounds maintenance, recycling, pest control, and patient room turnovers — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

"Our team gives patients confidence in MSK as an institution, so they know they made the right choice in coming here," says Ryan Clifford, Manager, Environmental Services. "We're very much in the business of first impressions."

For MSK's patient population — many of whom are immunocompromised — cleanliness is not just comfort. It's clinical. "We're the first line of defense against the spread of infection," says Christopher Choudhry, Senior Director, Environmental Services. "Cleanliness promotes healing, and the intervention of our team saves lives. There is nothing more important."

The stakes are high and the team knows it. If a spot of blood is found in an operating room, a patient's procedure must be canceled. "If we don't provide a disinfected area, then we aren't saving lives, which is why we all do the work that we do," says Gabriel Castillo, Environmental Services Lead and 18-year MSK veteran. "I work to turn a patient's room from dirty to clean as fast as possible, which lowers the waiting time for patients in urgent care." 

Yobanny Villa, Environmental Services Lead with 13 years at MSK, sees his role clearly: "I know my job is just as important as that of the doctors and nurses at MSK. We're the first ones in and the last ones out. Without our team, MSK doesn't run."

What keeps so many team members here for years — sometimes decades — is something harder to measure than efficiency. It's community. It's belonging. "We've become a family here," says Yobanny. Linda Rimple, an EVS Lead with 17 years at MSK, agrees: "You don't see growth like that anywhere else — the sky's the limit."

For some, joining EVS was deeply personal. "After I lost both of my parents to cancer, I saw an opportunity to come to MSK and knew it was the right decision for me," says Stephan Craigwell, Manager, Environmental Services.

Gabriel puts it simply: "MSK is my family, my home, and my life. I'll stay here until I retire."

Behind every clean room, every turned bed, every safe operating suite — there's a team that takes pride in the work that others never see. At MSK, that team makes all the difference.